The Gazipaşa ILk Okulu (primary school) in Mardin, Turkey is housed in a beautiful and well preserved former home in Mardin's central district. The building was built for an Armenian family in 1908 and became a school in 1937.
The building was designed by the Armenian architect Sarkis Elyas Lole, who also designed and built a number of classic buildings in Mardin. The school's principal was kind enough to show around the building which included this view of Mesopotamia.
Not a bad place to study, although recess appeared to be much more popular than the view.
Do they communicate in Armenia (the language) in this school? Just by looking at these photos - I can see the complicated aspects in Turkey's society. The mixture of people, ethnic groups...etc. Heard people compared the situation to Mexico - though the latter is of a much bigger scales in terms of the geographical spread of the ethnic origins I think.
It looks a world away from big cities like Istanbul or Ankara.
Posted by: Katy | July 23, 2010 at 08:39 PM
Katy - No, Turkish is taught in all schools in Turkey. It's only been very recently that there have been TV and radio programs in languages other than Turkish. It is very complicated and a bit sensitive. People are just coming to terms with some of the issues now.
More to come on Mardin. It is very different from Istanbul (haven't made it to Ankara yet).
Posted by: Dave | July 24, 2010 at 10:42 AM